Wynne says not election this year, but hints at 3 byelections this summer

TORONTO – Premier Kathleen Wynne says she won’t trigger an Ontario election this year, but hints that voters in Windsor, London and Ottawa will be heading to the polls in byelections this summer.

Wynne says Liberals and non-Liberals have made it clear they expect her to try and make the minority government work, so she “has no intention” of calling an election this year in hopes of getting her own mandate from voters.

The premier vows to “work to govern” over the next year, and says keeping her word on the issue is “one of the markers” she needs to be measured against.

Wynne also dismisses political observers who say summer is the wrong time to campaign and hold votes, and says not everyone goes away to a cottage but most people do get busy after Labour Day.

She must call byelections in Windsor-Tecumseh and London-West by Aug. 15 to replace former cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan and Chris Bentley, who both quit in February after she became premier.

Wynne has until December to call a byelection in Ottawa-South to replace former premier Dalton McGuinty, but says “there’s a good possibility” all three votes will be held on the same day.

She promises to call the byelections soon, but won’t say exactly when.

The Liberals fell one seat short of a majority government in the 2011 election, so even if they lose all three byelections it won’t change their status in the legislature.